The U.S. House of Representatives voted 366-34 Friday night to pass a bill to continue funding the government, a move that looms large after Elon Musk and President-elect Donald Trump rejected a bipartisan spending deal earlier in the week. Avoided a shutdown.
The Senate then passed a continuing resolution 85-11 early Saturday to keep government funding at current levels through March 14. It also includes disaster relief and farmer aid, which were core parts of the original bipartisan bill, and left out President Trump’s last bill. A subtle request to raise the debt ceiling.
However, the bill is much smaller than the original bill, cut from 1,500 pages to 118 pages, and includes cuts to expand health care for older Americans, a plan to lower prescription drug prices, and apprenticeship programs for young people. etc. were included.
“The precedent set by Congress today should shake every American who believes in our nation’s democratic form of government.”
“Tonight, in a victory for the American people and a defeat for Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the House of Representatives will keep government functioning, provide $100 billion in critical disaster relief to communities across America, and provide relief to communities across the country. We passed a bill that provides $10 billion in aid to people facing challenges: farmers and ranchers,” outgoing Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in a statement. Ta.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York also celebrated averting a shutdown.
“We stopped radical MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government and collapsing the economy,” he wrote in Blue Sky. “The American people won this round. The far-right billionaires lost. The fight continues in the new year.”
The bill comes after Musk, the world’s richest man, whom President Trump appointed to co-head the new Department of Government Efficiency, spent all Wednesday tweeting against the original spending package announced by the House speaker. The passage ended several days of whirlwind in the U.S. House of Representatives. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) on Tuesday. Johnson refrained from bringing the bill to the floor after Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance joined Musk in opposing the bill.
Instead, it tried to pass another bill on Thursday that would raise the debt ceiling until 2027, as requested by President Trump. The bill was rejected by a vote of 174-235, with only two Democrats voting yes and 38 Republicans voting no. Prime Minister Johnson then briefly considered passing individual bills on Friday morning before ultimately securing support from 170 Republicans and all Democrats except Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), who voted present. It was approved.
“We forced President-elect Trump and Shadow President Elon Musk to rescind their 11th-hour demands to pass a moratorium on the debt ceiling, once again funneling trillions into Trump Tax Scam 2.0. “It paved the way for tax cuts for the rich that cut Social Security and Medicare for working people and the poor while giving millions of dollars to billionaires and mega-corporations,” Jayapal said. he said. “Democrats will force Republicans to back down and once we get into a Republican trifecta, it will be the responsibility of Republicans to cast every vote for such fraud. We’re not going to bail out the Republican Party because of some policy response to the richest people in America at the expense of working people and struggling Americans. ”
The passage of the disaster relief funding was celebrated by more than 50 storm and fire survivors who sent a delegation to Congress last week. They shared their stories and demanded that Congress fully fund recovery efforts, as federal funding for relief efforts has been delayed for more than two years. .
“I applaud Republicans and Democrats for prioritizing disaster relief, which is the way it should be,” said Amanda DeBecca-Linia, co-founder of a group of Superstorm Sandy survivors. “But the maneuvers we just witnessed, including an unelected billionaire holding disaster relief supplies hostage through the social media platforms he owns, are a reality for American disaster survivors. And we will continue to come together to take back our communities, both our homes and our whole lives. ”
Debecca Rinia said the funding “represents important progress,” but added that it “is not the end goal.”
“We cannot continue to allow stopgap measures like this to become the norm,” she said. “We need a disaster recovery system that helps families navigate. Survivors deserve reliable, sustainable, and permanent funding.”
Zoe Middleton, associate director for climate resilience at the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Climate and Energy Program, also called for durable disaster relief solutions.
“Communities need and deserve well-funded recovery programs to get back on their feet in the weeks and months following a disaster,” Middleton said in a statement. “Depleting funds for short-term relief and forcing communities to wait for long-term recovery assistance can push families into debt and homelessness, and can permanently damage local economies.” It can cause significant financial scars.”
He added, “Fossil fuel companies continue to profit while people across the country lose their homes and livelihoods to the climate crisis. In addition to passing this short-term stopgap funding, Congress will We should invest in measures to prepare people who are vulnerable to climate change.” Permanently authorize Community Development Block Grants to prepare communities before disasters occur and to ensure that people are not pushed into desperate straits after they experience the worst. ”
Passage of the bill also sets the stage for next year when Republicans control the president, the House and the Senate, foreshadowing future conflicts and revealing the extent of Musk’s influence over future presidents and Republicans. .
During private negotiations, House Republicans on Friday shared slides showing a proposed deal that would exchange $2.5 trillion in spending cuts and a $1.5 trillion debt ceiling increase next year. The cuts could include essential programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and federal nutritional assistance.
“Republicans are already poised to take a cue from Elon Musk and his DOGE committee and roll out huge tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy,” said Lindsey Owens, executive director of the Groundwork Collaborative. he said in a statement. “Their plans for the new year are crystal clear: Cut trillions of dollars from Social Security, Medicare and other vital programs and use them to finance their own massive tax cuts.”
Jayapal said Democrats will need “thorns of steel to oppose all the ways Republicans inflict brutality on America’s workers and poor people.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, R-Vt., who voted against the continuing resolution, lamented the removal of key provisions from the spending bill following opposition from Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump. These included steps to expand primary health care, mental health care, substance abuse counseling, and nutrition programs for older Americans. Strengthen vocational training for 100,000 young people. And it seeks to regulate pharmacy benefit managers who drive up the cost of prescription drugs.
“These important proposals that Democrats and Republicans negotiated for months and that both sides agreed to were stripped from this bill by an unelected billionaire named Elon Musk,” Sanders said. said. “Mr. Musk, the richest man on earth, threatened to use his fortune to oust a member of Congress who would have voted in favor of the original bipartisan bill.”
“The precedent set by Congress today should shake every American who believes in our country’s democratic form of government. From now on, we cannot accept any action without the approval of the richest man in this country,” Sanders said. It seems unlikely that any major legislation will pass.” That’s not democracy, it’s oligarchy. ”
